6 Tiny Moments That Defined the My Closest Childhood Bond
Rhythm Reverie #8
The following story is part of a larger series that you can read more about here. Check out this Spotify playlist to hear the songs referenced in the series.
Growing up, I longed to experience the bonds of sisterhood. I would witness the closeness of sisters at school and in my friend groups, and there was just something different about that familial bond compared to the one I shared with my younger brother. The four-year age gap between him and me didn’t help things either.
I look back now and realize I experienced the bonds of sisterhood after all. My cousin and I, born five months apart, grew up intertwined in each other’s lives in a way that can only be described as sister-like. Her actual older sister is six years her senior, and these sibling age gaps we experienced were the gentle pushes that brought us together.
So many of my childhood memories feature her in a starring role. There isn’t a single defining moment that stands out; instead it’s a montage of the little instances that molded us into the adults we are today.
A montage seems to be the only way I can illustrate our close bond, so I’ll end this reverie with a list of tiny moments. I hope these moments (and the songs that served as the backdrop) convey our closeness and remind others it’s not always immediate family members who become our closest ties.
Our Tiny Moments
- Doing “sneak outs” because we were obsessed with Harriet the Spy. All we did was sneak to the fridge for late night snacks and try not to wake the adults up. Boy, did we feel like quite the rebels.
- Going down a “black hole” water slide together. What transpired was my cousin flipping off the double tube, going down on her back, and being so traumatized she never did another amusement park ride again. I think of this scene from It’s Always Sunny whenever I look back on this moment.
- Holing up in the family RV together during annual summer trips to draw with body art crayons. The artistry we displayed on our knees was magical.
- Watching The Parent Trap together so many times that we still quote it to this day. The second I hear the opening piano notes of “L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole, I picture us around 7–8 years old curled up together on the couch with our eyes glued to the tv. We went through true heartbreak when we learned Lindsay Lohan wasn’t actually a twin.
- Going to overnight summer camp together from the ages of 13 to 18. There was a dance at the end of each camp week where the counselor-turned-DJ would always play “Vogue” by Madonna and “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child. I hear these songs now and am catapulted back to that dance floor.
- The moment when our early teen obsessions intertwined. My deep love of Paramore met Abbey’s deep love of the Twilight series when the song “Decode” landed itself on the movie soundtrack. I still picture our bedroom walls collaged with magazine clippings of these obsessions (and many others).
I’ll end this list here before I get too far down memory lane. If you have someone in your life who is the star of a million tiny moments, consider yourself one of the lucky ones. Bonds like these make our time on this earth worth living.
